The Godfather!

One week ago today we spent the day with Estelle's godfather, François. He and his family live in central France in a city called Clermont-Ferrand. They came to nearby Théoule-sur-Mer on vacation for one week.
We met them on the beach Sunday morning. Our last hurrah before the lice.
Above: Estelle and her godfather. Below, Cléa, who just turned 2, François' daughter.
Let's hope she didn't catch our little friends in her hair!
It was beautiful morning.
Thomas and Aurelie watch Estelle enjoying the real sand at Théoule.
I had been to Théoule 3 other times, but the last time was over 4 years ago. It is west of Cannes from Nice. I had been once on a hike 9 years ago (Mare, do you remember?), once on a boat (Craig & Doug) and once on a scooter for lunch (Craig). It was fun to go back as a family.

The view from their rented spot up in the hills where we went for lunch after the beach.
After lunch we enjoyed a walk up on the ridge just behind their spot. It was stunning.


Above: my charming husband. Below: was I thinking about the view? The scenery? My adorable baby? Or "where on a Sunday night am I going to find anti-lice products when I get back to Nice?"

These 2 guys have been friends since they met on the ice at the age of 3, almost 30 years ago. Incredible.
Last Saturday, the day before we discovered our "lousy friends", we visited the animals in a circus that is in town. It was something like "National Circus Day" so we got to enter for free and visit all the animals. We have done this before, but this time there were seals! Estelle thought that was cool.
This funny seal's name was "Nelson", hilarious to me since I have an uncle and a cousin named Nelson. We learned
We also got to see some rehearsing under the big top. The animal trainers explained (In French) that all circus animals in the West are "dressed" using either English or German. So this is funny, to hear French people with wacky accents hollering at the seals, who were being rather disobedient, and saying "Nelson! No! Bad Nelson! Nelllllllllssooooooonnnn! Nelson!"

These fountains are just a few blocks for our apartment. They are HIGH!
I am patiently awaiting the return of my hockey-star husband, who should be back in time for afternoon snacks today. It's been a looooooong weekend. Luckily we have the pleasure of doing more lice shampoos tonight.

Cause if you can't joke about, what CAN you do?

What is a head lice's favorite Broadway musical?
"Hair"

What did the headlice say when their host went to the barber?
"There goes the neighborhood."

What do you call head lice on a bald person?
Homeless

Where do mountain-climbing head lice go?
The widow's peak

What is the favorite hobby of head lice?
Nitting

Crawling (Léna, not lice)

Here's a little video of happier times from a week ago, before "The Outbreak", as we are now referring to our "situation".

And more recent photos, just another night here, sittin' around, nit-pickin'.

Nit-Picker

Ever think where this expression comes from, to be nit-picky?

Picking out the nits of the lice from hair is so tedious and overwhelmingly scrutinizing, that only the most demanding person would refer to themselves as nit-picky.

Between 11 p.m. and midnight last night my sister Martha talked me back from the edge, so to speak. It was like a cross-Atlantic phone version of that song "Jumper" by Third Eye Blind. Crisis after medical crisis, in person or over the phone, she continues to save my hide decade after decade. Listens, sympathizes and then says 'ok, here's what you should do'. As a school nurse, the woman has SEEN IT ALL and knows more information, physiology and reproduction habits about lice than I even thought existed. I accept now that there is no easy solution, no magic potion. Pull them out, one by one, and keep doing it, day after day, until you get them all. Pray to God the rest of us don't get them. Martha also told me many horror stories of lice from her days at the hospital and at the school, so I'm taking comfort today by images of what is NOT my case.

Really, this is not a big deal. My daughter is in perfect health and this is not an illness nor anything serious. It is just a parasite.

Lucky me Thomas is going away for a hockey tournament from Friday until Sunday. Have I mentioned I don't have a dryer. Sigh. [Or am I just being nit-picky?]

LICE

Nope, not kidding.
I want to hear it all, advice, tips, things I should do. You got something to help me, share it now!
Just discovered it. Heading out to try to find something open now and get whatever it is I will need. And here we were just thinking how nice it is that finally her locks are long enough to do something with...argh argh.

Papy & Manou

Estelle is in her 2nd week of April vacation over here and has been thoroughly enjoying a visit from Papy & Manou who arrived Sunday afternoon.
Léna is also getting "some" attention....!
Is that Dale Chamberlain?
Every morning and every afternoon the girls enjoy an outing with their grandparents. Parks, zoos, merry-go-rounds, ice creams, walks by the seaside, the fun never ends. Today they joined them for breakfast at their hotel (me too!). Yum yum, 3-star hotel, even real Canadian syrup!
Meanwhile, this little baby has 2 more weeks before she turns one:

Could gobble her up. Such a great baby.
Lots of pointing lately. At anything. Accompanied by grunting.
Additionally quite a bit of charging at me like a bull. Can't keep the barrette in.What a shame she is so not cute and unphotogenic. Yes I do squeeze and kiss those cheeks 763 times per day. At least.

It's My Fête!

Today is my "fête", i.e. my saint's day.
In France, all calendars, agendas, diaries, etc have each day's patron saint listed. It is noted in the daily newspapers, and each day and evening the weather girls announce it on the news.
7 years ago on this day I remember someone, as a prank, undid the brake cables on my bike and I just about lost my life when I started home from a lesson on top of a hill. I used the tips of my shoes as brakes amidst city traffic at rush hour. I had to throw the shoes away the next day - they were ruined! That's what I always think of now on April 8th!
Last night we had a spur-of-the-moment visit from Thomas' cousin, Pascal, his wife Sylvie and one of their daughters, Aurore. They live near Aix-en-Provence.

See any family resemblances? Agathe, their older daughter, was away at a retreat at Lourdes, for a religious pilgrimage before her confirmation.
We think it has been almost 3 years since we have seen Aurore, though we have seen Pascale and Sylvie in between. She looked a lot different! Pascal's mom is Yvette, Thomas' maternal aunt, from whom Estelle gets her middle name.
We had a nice visit with them. They were driving their VW pop-up camper van which they had parked at the other end of the Promenade and then had biked across Nice by the seaside to our apartment - with folding BTwin bikes. Too cool. Should have taken a photo of those.
In other news, my stomach remains on the cusp of either getting sick or not, it can't decide. Léna diapers are evidence that she has fallen prey to Estelle's stomach bug, but thankfully it doesn't seem to be bothering her that much = she is still sleeping normally = it's ok for me.

Easter Monday - Beach!

Vermont is bragging about their amazing Easter weather, so now that we actually left the house yesterday as a family, we can brag too!
Remember Easter Monday is a national holiday in France so Thomas had the day off.
We went to Plage Darse in Villefranche.
First we strolled by some yachts.
This was 10:30 a.m. We had intended to go to a nice park in Villefranche, but just as we were pulling up in front of it, we saw a big crowd and thought, "huh?" Then suddenly probably 50 kids charged thru the park gate, bags in hand...oh no, an easter egg hunt. Thankfully Estelle, whose stomach is still so fragile that she cannot even look at chocolate, was looking the otherway and didn't notice. Thomas promptly put the pedal to the metal and we opted for the beach instead, just a ways down the road.
Ah, yes. Why we live here.



Wouldn't think she'd been at death's door, would you? Poor kid.
10 minutes later we were stripping down. It was warm!

We put our toes in - chilly! But there were a few senior citizens in there getting in their morning constitutional. Lunatics. I sat like a bump on a log (literally, I was on a log) with my thermos of tea and praised God that I wasn't emptying a bucket or changing sheets.
Less than one year ago, on April 19th 2009, we were on the same exact beach, though in slightly different shape:
Jumpin' Jehosapath! Who IS that woman?
But it was warm that day - so warm that Estelle was in the water!
Last summer we didn't go to the beach but 2 or 3 times as Léna was so small - we hope to get there more often this year.
Yesterday after naps, we made this short 90-second docu-drama after a spring cleaning spree:

Yes, I know they still LOOK functional, but trust us, they are not. ZDD = zipper deficit disorder.

Thanks Easter Bunny!

The Easter Bunny brought something much better than chocolate to our house today - he gave Estelle back her digestive system after another rough night last night. - Thanks Easter Bunny! Check her out. The girl is B-A-C-K.

True to form, this Baby's First Easter bib got its workout today:

While Thomas and the girls did not go with me to Craig & Doug's villa, I did bring back a bucketload of food for them. And my M&M cookies from last night, along with the Cupcakes I made this morning, were a hit all around.
Thanks Easter Bunny! (remember that old M&M ad from the 80's? - I tried to embed it below off YouTube - have a look for nostalgia...)

Dr. Baker Returns

Things are only getting worse over here. We called back Dr. Baker today, thought it was one of his colleages, whose bedside manner was much more like the real Dr. Baker from LHOTP.
Say a little Easter prayer for Estelle, whom I have never seen so ill. Poor kid.
Here she is Wednesday afternoon, less than 24 hours before this all began. We were up in the hills behind Nice at a private bi-lingual school which also offers day camp programs during school vacations. It's big on outdoors activities and education, animals, pool, etc. Estelle is signed up to go the 4 days this coming week. Wednesday afternoon we went to see it and have a little tour so she would feel more comfortable Tuesday morning. She is (rather, was) very excited about this.
Here's my Easter treat from my darling husband. Readers can guess how much this hollow fish filled with a baggie of little mini fish cost. The fish is not quite the size of my hand.
Meanwhile, so far, the gods are smiling on us (or is it pity?) and THIS little Easter bunny below is happy and healthy and just a riot.
She charges at us like a ram.
At least one of my kids knows it is Easter.
Well, as in all times of crisis, I am true to my genes and thus turn to solace in family tradition: baking. Today I made blueberry tarte and, at 11:35 p.m., just turned out 5 dozen of the most amazing dark chocolate pastel-colored-Easter-special-brought-back-with-me-from-the-Newport-Vermont-Kinney-Drugs M&M cookies. They are deLIGHTful. Estelle took one look at them and threw up. Such is life.

Good Friday? Methinks not!

Here's Estelle organizing her beads by color a few days ago.
Those beads look somewhat similar to her lunch yesterday at school (peas and carrots and other colorful bits of stuff) which we have been seeing over and over in various spots in our home.....welcome to a stomach bug.
The Monster that was in our cousin Cole's house (happy April Fool's bday to Cole yesterday!) crossed the ocean and is now well-ensconced chez nous. Here's a monster below that was in the Carnival this year in Nice - Thomas took Estelle to the last day of Carnival just 24 hours after we arrived back from America last month.
Other fun things in the Carnival parade - the king, some kind of Obama theme thing...



Carnival Frog:
Back to the present reality: Dr. Baker (as I like to refer to the travelling physicians who makes house-calls over here, such a fantastic service) has already come and gone and now we float in a sea of meds fetched by a friend because I certainly cannot leave.
Here are the girl in happier times:


Here's crossing our fingers to a less gut-wrenching (literally) rest of our Good Friday. If only we had some flat ginger ale.